Display devices are used in a variety of applications. For example, thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs) are used in notebook computers, flat panel desktop monitors, LCD televisions, and internet and communication devices, to name only a few.
Many display devices, such as TFT-LCD panels and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, are made directly on flat glass sheets (glass substrates). To increase production rates and reduce costs, a typical panel manufacturing process simultaneously produces multiple panels on a single substrate or a sub-piece of a substrate. At various points in such processes, the substrate is divided into parts along cut lines.
One such process for forming glass sheets is commonly referred to as the fusion draw process. The fusion process, specifically, the overflow downdraw fusion process, includes a supply pipe, known as an isopipe, which provides molten glass to a collection trough formed in a refractory body. During the overflow downdraw fusion process, molten glass passes from the supply pipe to the trough and then overflows the top of the trough on both sides, thus forming two sheets of glass that flow downward and then inward along the outer surfaces of the isopipe. The two sheets meet at the bottom or root of the isopipe, where they fuse together into a single sheet. The single sheet is then fed to drawing equipment that controls the thickness of the sheet by the rate at which the sheet is drawn away from the root. The drawing equipment is located well downstream of the root so that the single sheet has cooled and become rigid before coming into contact with the equipment.
As the fusion draw process is well-suited for forming high quality glass sheets, its use in markets other than LCD is desired. Examples include chemically strengthened glass and specialty glass for use in photovoltaic panels. Such glass sheets may have their own controlled cooling concerns during formation.